This invention relates to food flavoring compositions. More particularly, it relates to an improved method for fixing volatile flavoring compounds such as acetaldehyde in stable form.
It has been known for some time that compounds such as acetaldehyde are important flavor components of natural fruits and vegetables and serve as flavor enhancers for various notes naturally present in food products of this type. Acetaldehyde in particular is important for its ability to increase the impact and apparent freshness of certain flavors. However, while the presence of acetaldehyde is a valuable enhancer in a number of food products, it has been difficult until recent years to incorporate it into a stable, solid flavor composition.
The art of fixing these volatile flavoring compounds has been advanced by the procedures outlined in several recent U.S. Patents. U.S. Pat. No. 3,314,803, to Dame, discloses a method of fixing acetaldehyde by encapsulating it in a matrix of mannitol. This procedure produces a dry, nonhydroscopic material which retains a portion of its fixed acetaldehyde even under non-hermetic conditions. Unfortunately, this procedure is very costly because of the high price of mannitol, which is usually not necessary as an ingredient in food compositions except for its use as a flavor fixative. Moreover, while an initial fixation of from about 2% to about 10% of acetaldehyde can be obtained, the initial fix will be modulated in several days and the level of acetaldehyde will equillibrate to a lower, stable range, usually between about 1% and about 3%. Thus, additional costs due to the loss of acetaldehyde are experienced.
In U.S. Pat. No. 3,787,592, to W. A. Mitchell, et al., there is disclosed a method of fixing volatile flavoring compounds such as acetaldehyde in crystalline materials such as sucrose. By this procedure, the volatile flavoring compound is trapped within the lattice of the crystalline material at low levels. While the degree of fix is low on a weight basis, it provides economies because these crystalline materials are themselves constituents in many of the food products utilizing the flavoring compounds. Moreover, the acetaldehyde is tenaciously held.
In another recent U.S. Pat. No. 3,767,430 to E. L. Earle, et al., a process is described for producing sucrose-fixed acetaledhyde at potentially commercial scale. According to this procedure, acetaldehyde is added to a supersaturated sucrose solution during crystallization to obtain a slurry wherein the acetaldehyde is fixed within the surcrose crystals. By adding a suitable quantity of crystalline sucrose to the slurry, the percentage moisture level of the slurry is reduced to levels more conducive to further handling. Here again, the level of fixation of the acetaldehyde is low but economies are achieved for the reasons mentioned with regard to the Mitchell et al process discussed above.
Another recently issued patent, U.S. Pat. No. 3,843,822 to W. A. Mitchell, provides yet another procedure for tenaciously fixing acetaldehyde within a sucrose matrix. According to the procedure of this patent, the acetaldehyde is provided by utilizing paraldehyde as the source of acetaldehyde. The paraldehyde is mixed with a supersaturated sucrose solution and converted to acetaldehyde during processing.
While these recent developments provide long awaited solutions to the problem of fixing volatile flavoring compounds in solid materials, there remains a present need for enabling commercial production of these materials at even greater cost savings.